Costco cracking down on card sharing

[ClownLoach]

Costco doesn't want a 5 unit transaction.

Somewhere the self checkout program went sideways at Costco. They were originally being added to high volume stores that couldn't physically fit more registers, and as such they could fit 6 to 9 units in the space of two regular checklanes.

For the many "maxed out" West Coast locations this was a win as there was zero additional space for more registers and a more productive use of labor than the old "linebusting" program where a employee would pre-scan a cart in line during peak hours.

I think that there could be more to the story than just a membership card crackdown. I visited three Costco stores today all in upscale areas (looking for a hard to find clearance item) and were surprised to see virtually no enforcement of the crackdown. I wasn't even asked to show my card at Self Checkout although I did see the same two supervisors or whatever else "supervising" the self checks that everyone else has seen. All three of them were within 10 miles of the stores that I am aware are fully cracking down, queuing up customers for a card/ID check, scanning the cards to ensure validity, and so on (including the store who singled out my wife). She went to two stores in "rougher" areas you'd expect higher shrink in today and they were doing the full crackdown.

When I started to piece the puzzle together about levels of enforcement I've seen by store - it's pretty obvious that the stores in higher shrink areas are the ones that are cracking down the most. Just knowing where shrink was higher and lower at my last two companies - the enforcement level aligns.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they figured out that the same folks who are likely to use someone else's card are also the same folks who would under-ring, UPC switch and everything else that comes with self checkout shrink. Sure they check at the door, but we know they can't be perfect there and there's a lot of runway between the self check and the door to conceal that second unit that intentionally wasn't scanned etc.


Thus they aren't doing this in low shrink stores and it isn't really about membership sales. It's about shrink control.

I know they don't want 5 item transactions but those are the only types of transactions that can go through self checkout based on the way they have it set up (can't use hand scanner) and this paranoid thing about card sharing.

Eventually the crooks will go to the stores in upscale neighborhoods too. Eventually will be like, next week, with how things are going lately. There have been some real surprises in my area lately. Stores that never had theft issues before are having theft issues now, large attempted thefts, due to being stores that historically had so little theft that nobody paid any attention.

The UPC switch thing is why Sam's Club is having the person at the door actually scan the receipt then scan the actual contents in the cart... as opposed to the visual check Costco tries to do. Which is a real crap shoot. I am noticing the door at Sam's is getting slower to exit. I'm not sure if it is more people at Sam's, increased examination of carts (sometimes it only wants 3 items scanned, other times it seems to want almost all items scanned, and I am seeing a real problem with Scan & Go Customers not knowing they need to show ID for alcohol to the exit and holding the line up for 45 seconds getting their ID out), or what.

I have no idea what Costco's shrink is vs. that of Sam's but my suspicion is Sam's has better programs to combat shrink on this front and Costco needs to pay attention.

Here in California Scan & Go isn't enabled for alcohol (yet - I think that they can do this based on what Amazon is doing) but I have only seen them scan the entire cart when a discrepancy occurs. It appears they're sometimes promoted to do a piece count as well as scan three items. If the piece count entered on the scanner doesn't match the receipt they have to scan the entire basket. Proving your point around shrink in California and the lack of recourse, last visit to my local Sam's I saw two carts in a row (I suspect that they were folks who came in together) where they did the piece count and a discrepancy came up, and there were two extra items not purchased in each cart. What bothers me is that all the person at the door can do is they say "it looks like these items didn't make it onto your order, would you like me to add them to your order?" Both times they said "No, that's okay" and just walked right out the door without their attempted stolen goods. I hope that the system puts some sort of block on the account when this is found; there is some sort of algorithm that randomly will divert your Scan and Go transaction to a self checkout. It's happened to me once and the phone screen turns to a message explaining to go to a self checkout for assistance with red bars at the top and bottom of the screen. It tells you to scan the barcode on your phone with the self checkout scanner and then a Sam's associate is prompted to come over and complete the transaction. I believe the reason my transaction was intercepted was I changed to a different credit card in the app that I had never used at Sam's, so their system wanted to see a chip read or card swipe proving I possessed the physical card and wasn't committing fraud. Obviously this technology is far superior to anything Costco is doing to prevent shrink.

Here's a great article about the reinvention of Sam's Club and some unbelievable statistics that should be causing upset stomachs and nausea in Issaquah, WA. Who else in retail has sales up 43% over pre-pandemic numbers (and that's after closing 10% of the stores)? Who else increased employee pay 31%? This executive interviewed by Harvard Business Review should be promoted to CEO of Walmart (but I really think he is going to be the CEO of an independent Sam's Club company in a few years - something I thought impossible even a few months ago)

https://hbr.org/2023/05/youve-got-to-se ... to-succeed

[BreakingThrough]

This is a fascinatedly relatable thread. Two weeks ago I was visiting my parents and stopped in at the Carlsbad, CA Costco with my mother. She is a total shopaholic and a huge Costco fan -- she often refers to her "Personal Chef named Costco" and spends tons of unnecessary money there. (She and my father are a retired two-person household with no need for a warehouse club.)

I thought it would be a nice gesture to pay for my mother's cart. After all, what 40-year-old man wants to be seen with his mother paying? I had faint awareness of this crackdown but it honestly didn't cross my mind at the time.

Got to the cashier -- first words out of her mouth: "Who's paying??" in a very accusatory tone. No "Hi how are you." I honestly replied, "I am."

Instant lecture on the policy in an extremely condescending, totally unacceptable tone. Almost gleeful -- as if the cashiers get some sort of spif for busting people. Her tone was so out of line that I lost my temper and replied in similar nasty tone. Not my best moment, but provoked.

It honestly didn't matter who paid -- my mother ended up putting it on her credit card (which I reimbursed her for after the fact.) I'm not upset over the policy or that I was "caught" -- it was all in how it was communicated. I don't care if every other customer is trying to steal from you, maintaining decorum is a bare minimum expectation from a cashier, and this experience was honestly beyond the pale.

My mother was extremely upset for the rest of the day and said she felt she was being treated like a criminal and profiled (she is Hispanic and I am mixed race). She was talking about canceling her membership (she wont, though my dad would love the overall savings if she did). This is a 75-year-old woman who has been paying dues since the Price Club days.

I've never encountered such a negative attituded from a cashier -- and I live in Los Angeles! I bet there are hundreds of stories like this -- it's not the policy crackdown that loses them business, it's the unprofessional way in which some employees are interacting with customers with a stance of "every customer is a criminal."

Never in my life have I called to complain about a cashier, but I certainly did this time. Probably didn't do anything, but made me feel better as this experience left an extremely poor taste in my mouth. I personally will never purchase a Costco membership as result of this experience.

[mbz321]

Myself and many other coworkers have never understood why there was never an item limit for self-checkout. (Some locations apparently have put up signs with a limit on their own, although definitely not corporate approved). The whole system makes zero sense, and shrink has definitely increased in my location since self-checkouts were added, but they always like to put the blame on the regular cashiers. Not the self checkouts or pretty much lack of an LP (We previously had a person that did nothing but LP and he was always catching people and police would be in our building pretty much every week. Unfortunately he passed away and was only replaced by someone who is 'sort of' LP but also does a lot of other administrative tasks, so they really aren't out on the floor or watching cameras all day long. Something else I can't understand).

We've caught some label switchers here and there, mainly with meat items, but usually they aren't smart enough to switch it with something around the same weight, so the system will lock up on them. But I wonder how many packs of batteries, shirts, salmon, and similar thin items get put inside rugs, in between containers, etc. (things that a self checkout assistant will just quickly scan and move on since everyone usually needs help all at once).

[babs]

This is a fascinatedly relatable thread. Two weeks ago I was visiting my parents and stopped in at the Carlsbad, CA Costco with my mother. She is a total shopaholic and a huge Costco fan -- she often refers to her "Personal Chef named Costco" and spends tons of unnecessary money there. (She and my father are a retired two-person household with no need for a warehouse club.)

I thought it would be a nice gesture to pay for my mother's cart. After all, what 40-year-old man wants to be seen with his mother paying? I had faint awareness of this crackdown but it honestly didn't cross my mind at the time.

Got to the cashier -- first words out of her mouth: "Who's paying??" in a very accusatory tone. No "Hi how are you." I honestly replied, "I am."

Instant lecture on the policy in an extremely condescending, totally unacceptable tone. Almost gleeful -- as if the cashiers get some sort of spif for busting people. Her tone was so out of line that I lost my temper and replied in similar nasty tone. Not my best moment, but provoked.

It honestly didn't matter who paid -- my mother ended up putting it on her credit card (which I reimbursed her for after the fact.) I'm not upset over the policy or that I was "caught" -- it was all in how it was communicated. I don't care if every other customer is trying to steal from you, maintaining decorum is a bare minimum expectation from a cashier, and this experience was honestly beyond the pale.

My mother was extremely upset for the rest of the day and said she felt she was being treated like a criminal and profiled (she is Hispanic and I am mixed race). She was talking about canceling her membership (she wont, though my dad would love the overall savings if she did). This is a 75-year-old woman who has been paying dues since the Price Club days.

I've never encountered such a negative attituded from a cashier -- and I live in Los Angeles! I bet there are hundreds of stories like this -- it's not the policy crackdown that loses them business, it's the unprofessional way in which some employees are interacting with customers with a stance of "every customer is a criminal."

Never in my life have I called to complain about a cashier, but I certainly did this time. Probably didn't do anything, but made me feel better as this experience left an extremely poor taste in my mouth. I personally will never purchase a Costco membership as result of this experience.

You should talk to the manager. Unfortunately retails attracts some amazing people and some people who shouldn't be in retail but stores are desperate for the help. I used to have a lady working.fore.ar the returns counter at Target who treated anyone who didn't look .polished as a crook even when everything
was legit I'd get called over and had to deal with when the customer was ticked off and wanted to speak to the manager. I talked to her countless times about it. Ended up terminating her. Don't blame the store or policy. Some people shouldn't be in customer service roles. Speak to a manager next time.

[storewanderer]

This is a fascinatedly relatable thread. Two weeks ago I was visiting my parents and stopped in at the Carlsbad, CA Costco with my mother. She is a total shopaholic and a huge Costco fan -- she often refers to her "Personal Chef named Costco" and spends tons of unnecessary money there. (She and my father are a retired two-person household with no need for a warehouse club.)

I thought it would be a nice gesture to pay for my mother's cart. After all, what 40-year-old man wants to be seen with his mother paying? I had faint awareness of this crackdown but it honestly didn't cross my mind at the time.

Got to the cashier -- first words out of her mouth: "Who's paying??" in a very accusatory tone. No "Hi how are you." I honestly replied, "I am."

Instant lecture on the policy in an extremely condescending, totally unacceptable tone. Almost gleeful -- as if the cashiers get some sort of spif for busting people. Her tone was so out of line that I lost my temper and replied in similar nasty tone. Not my best moment, but provoked.

It honestly didn't matter who paid -- my mother ended up putting it on her credit card (which I reimbursed her for after the fact.) I'm not upset over the policy or that I was "caught" -- it was all in how it was communicated. I don't care if every other customer is trying to steal from you, maintaining decorum is a bare minimum expectation from a cashier, and this experience was honestly beyond the pale.

My mother was extremely upset for the rest of the day and said she felt she was being treated like a criminal and profiled (she is Hispanic and I am mixed race). She was talking about canceling her membership (she wont, though my dad would love the overall savings if she did). This is a 75-year-old woman who has been paying dues since the Price Club days.

I've never encountered such a negative attituded from a cashier -- and I live in Los Angeles! I bet there are hundreds of stories like this -- it's not the policy crackdown that loses them business, it's the unprofessional way in which some employees are interacting with customers with a stance of "every customer is a criminal."

Never in my life have I called to complain about a cashier, but I certainly did this time. Probably didn't do anything, but made me feel better as this experience left an extremely poor taste in my mouth. I personally will never purchase a Costco membership as result of this experience.

I'd encourage her to cancel her membership. I would also demand a follow up from the store manager with an explanation for why the cashiers are behaving this way.

I have no idea what has come down from the corporate office that has caused these Costco Front End employees to behave this way but something very rotten has come down from above.

Before the focus on Costco front end was efficiency and accuracy (scanning everything). Really simple. Now this. I suspect their efficiency has also dropped significantly due to the time they are wasting on this mess and the fact that it takes time for employees to recover from confrontation and impacts their speed. Even though you were at the receiving end of a rude cashier, I am positive the interaction was not pleasant for the cashier either and behaving in that manner absolutely impacted the cashier's efficiency not only in your transaction but in transactions that came behind your transaction as well. Who knows, the cashier may have had a similar interaction/argument with someone 5 minutes prior and has just had it. Or the cashier may have just been disciplined somehow for accepting someone else's membership card (how could they possibly catch a cashier for doing that anyway...... the pictures are lousy, their cameras suck (security cameras too... don't think they are good enough for someone to zoom down onto the keyboard where the cashier rests a member's card during the transaction and really make out the card photo...)...

My guess is the cashiers are being threatened that someone is randomly watching cameras and zooming down on the keyboard where the card sits during the transaction and seeing if the cashier is really comparing photo vs. person in front of them. This explains why on Reddit we have issues of someone who had long dark hair in their membership photo but now has short blonde hair is being harrassed. This explains why on Reddit we have people who gained/lost 40 pounds since their membership photo being harrassed. The discipline for a cashier who accepts a shared membership must be severe, like immediate termination or something. This is a rotten policy to have to implement. This is no excuse for a cashier to be unprofessional/rude but I am starting to wonder if these rude cashiers are also pissed at the policy and want to try and piss off the customers so they won't come back or something...

But if this is how the Costco Corporate Office wants transactions to be handled, I say, let it be. People will quit shopping there. It is very clear on Reddit this is happening so much, all over, many people are getting mistreated who did absolutely nothing wrong.

And what do they care if you pay for her transaction? Their policy states checks must be written by the member. Their policy says nothing about cash or credit use by another family/household member.

I don't have a Costco Membership at this time, I let it come and go. Based on the rotten taste I am getting in my mouth from how they are handling this, I will probably not go back again unless I get a free membership or one that is heavily discounted. I've had Sam's active for the past ~15 years without lapse.

[ClownLoach]

This is a fascinatedly relatable thread. Two weeks ago I was visiting my parents and stopped in at the Carlsbad, CA Costco with my mother. She is a total shopaholic and a huge Costco fan -- she often refers to her "Personal Chef named Costco" and spends tons of unnecessary money there. (She and my father are a retired two-person household with no need for a warehouse club.)

I thought it would be a nice gesture to pay for my mother's cart. After all, what 40-year-old man wants to be seen with his mother paying? I had faint awareness of this crackdown but it honestly didn't cross my mind at the time.

Got to the cashier -- first words out of her mouth: "Who's paying??" in a very accusatory tone. No "Hi how are you." I honestly replied, "I am."

Instant lecture on the policy in an extremely condescending, totally unacceptable tone. Almost gleeful -- as if the cashiers get some sort of spif for busting people. Her tone was so out of line that I lost my temper and replied in similar nasty tone. Not my best moment, but provoked.

It honestly didn't matter who paid -- my mother ended up putting it on her credit card (which I reimbursed her for after the fact.) I'm not upset over the policy or that I was "caught" -- it was all in how it was communicated. I don't care if every other customer is trying to steal from you, maintaining decorum is a bare minimum expectation from a cashier, and this experience was honestly beyond the pale.

My mother was extremely upset for the rest of the day and said she felt she was being treated like a criminal and profiled (she is Hispanic and I am mixed race). She was talking about canceling her membership (she wont, though my dad would love the overall savings if she did). This is a 75-year-old woman who has been paying dues since the Price Club days.

I've never encountered such a negative attituded from a cashier -- and I live in Los Angeles! I bet there are hundreds of stories like this -- it's not the policy crackdown that loses them business, it's the unprofessional way in which some employees are interacting with customers with a stance of "every customer is a criminal."

Never in my life have I called to complain about a cashier, but I certainly did this time. Probably didn't do anything, but made me feel better as this experience left an extremely poor taste in my mouth. I personally will never purchase a Costco membership as result of this experience.

You should talk to the manager. Unfortunately retails attracts some amazing people and some people who shouldn't be in retail but stores are desperate for the help. I used to have a lady working.fore.ar the returns counter at Target who treated anyone who didn't look .polished as a crook even when everything
was legit I'd get called over and had to deal with when the customer was ticked off and wanted to speak to the manager. I talked to her countless times about it. Ended up terminating her. Don't blame the store or policy. Some people shouldn't be in customer service roles. Speak to a manager next time.

Costco management is just trained to say they're sorry, they'll handle it internally, and they don't do anything after. Unfortunately when you start to press the issue they'll repeat the phrase "we'll handle it internally" so I'm assuming they're trained to say that. Next time I experience an issue of obvious discriminatory behavior I am going to push until I speak to someone in the office of the CEO. Even if you call corporate they're trained to kick it back to a Manager at the offending store who listens to you for a minute or two and then attempts to disconnect with the magical phrase.

[ClownLoach]

Another oddity I've mentioned before but will bring up again: Costco is expanding their rollout of a new lighting package that defies all logic. They paint over 90% of the skylights in the store then remove the existing LED "bucket" lights. They replace them with a thin rectangular light panel with no diffuser. The panel looks like it was intended to be in a drop ceiling. They manage to make the store at least 80% darker while adding shadows and glare everywhere. If you look up the lights are blinding, yet the store is dark and poorly lit. They have to add new chains and hang the fixtures lower so I would imagine there is a risk of entanglement with the forklifts that didn't exist before as well. I've heard customers complaining that they can't see and can't read packaging now (especially older customers). The store feels dark, somehow feels dirty because of the strange shadows, and is depressing. I can't imagine working in the store. It is very obvious that these rectangular panels were not designed to be used in a warehouse environment and they're replacing what are already LED fixtures. Painting over the skylights isn't going to create improved security (Costco usually has overnight stocking anyway so nobody in their right mind would attempt a roof break in). It makes no sense, especially when most major retail remodels these days increase the budget for lighting replacement/additions at the expense of decor. Not to mention their competitor Sam's upgrades lighting significantly on their remodels they're completing nationwide. It's as if Costco is suddenly making an effort to piss off as many customers as possible.

[babs]

Another oddity I've mentioned before but will bring up again: Costco is expanding their rollout of a new lighting package that defies all logic. They paint over 90% of the skylights in the store then remove the existing LED "bucket" lights. They replace them with a thin rectangular light panel with no diffuser. The panel looks like it was intended to be in a drop ceiling. They manage to make the store at least 80% darker while adding shadows and glare everywhere. If you look up the lights are blinding, yet the store is dark and poorly lit. They have to add new chains and hang the fixtures lower so I would imagine there is a risk of entanglement with the forklifts that didn't exist before as well. I've heard customers complaining that they can't see and can't read packaging now (especially older customers). The store feels dark, somehow feels dirty because of the strange shadows, and is depressing. I can't imagine working in the store. It is very obvious that these rectangular panels were not designed to be used in a warehouse environment and they're replacing what are already LED fixtures. Painting over the skylights isn't going to create improved security (Costco usually has overnight stocking anyway so nobody in their right mind would attempt a roof break in). It makes no sense, especially when most major retail remodels these days increase the budget for lighting replacement/additions at the expense of decor. Not to mention their competitor Sam's upgrades lighting significantly on their remodels they're completing nationwide. It's as if Costco is suddenly making an effort to piss off as many customers as possible.

Costco used to turn off off some of their lights during the daytime and let the skylights so their job. I've not seen lights turned off now for the last several years. It looks like they are moving away from using natural light. I kind of liked it when they did turn off some of the lights.

[jamcool]

It ain’t Sol Price’s company anymore.

[storewanderer]

Costco used to turn off off some of their lights during the daytime and let the skylights so their job. I've not seen lights turned off now for the last several years. It looks like they are moving away from using natural light. I kind of liked it when they did turn off some of the lights.

For some reason stores have moved away from this. One Smiths here used to rely on skylights during the day for a lot of its lighting but in recent years it just has all of the lights on all the time.

There must be some reason these stores are doing this... but I don't know what it could be.